Imagine a Different Future for Fashion
“Imagine: spirituality is a popular conversation topic and has been decoupled from religion. After we lost so much during the climate crisis, everyone has more reverence for nature. Retail therapy is a historical concept. It’s been replaced by meditation, taught in schools, and — since scientists proved their sentience in 2031 — by talking to trees. Mindless shopping is also a thing of the past, and people tease their parents about the old days when it was considered acceptable to buy clothes without complete visibility of how they were made.”
This imagined future appears at the beginning of Wear Next by Clare Press, and it immediately caught my attention.
The passage reads almost like a guided meditation. It invites the reader to imagine a world shaped by reverence for nature, ethical responsibility, and a profound transformation in how we consume fashion. Spirituality, in this scenario, is no longer tied to religion but instead emerges through a renewed relationship with the natural world.
For Press, the climate crisis becomes a turning point. After “losing so much,” society begins to reassess what is sacred and what deserves care. In this imagined future, sustainability is not a marketing strategy or a fashionable slogan; it is simply how things are done.
Technology also plays a role in this transformation. Garments carry QR codes that reveal the full story behind their creation — materials, environmental impact, and production processes. Greenwashing disappears because transparency becomes mandatory rather than optional.
At first, this vision might seem distant or utopian. Yet many of the technologies and systems Press describes already exist. For instance, the Milan-based company Certilogo has been developing digital product authentication systems since 2006, and the European Union has introduced legislation requiring digital product passports for textiles in the coming years.
In other words, parts of this future are already emerging.
Younger generations are also changing the conversation. Many have grown up with sustainability education and increasing awareness of the environmental consequences of consumption. The idea of buying clothes without understanding where they come from or how they were produced is gradually becoming harder to justify.
In this imagined world, sustainability is no longer a separate category of fashion. It simply becomes the foundation upon which fashion exists.
And perhaps that is the most radical idea of all: a future where sustainability becomes so integrated into everyday life that we no longer need to talk about it.
